Archives Langues & Cultures
Language and Culture Archives
Glossary of linguistic terminology used in
“Aspects of Kuloonaay Expository Discourse”
Sarah Gieske
©2015, SIL International
Ceci est l’une des publications électroniques de SIL Sénégal. Ces publications présentent les résultats
concrets des recherches menées par les membres de SIL sur le terrain et d’autres personnes. Certaines sont
des documents de travail préliminaire et non des recherches abouties. Elles sont tirées de notes prises sur le
terrain et sont, dans certains cas, le travail de jeunes chercheurs avec une formation minimale. Les
propositions de politique linguistique incluses dans les documents techniques ne représentent pas
nécessairement la position de SIL Sénégal.
This is one of a number of electronic publications published by SIL Senegal. These publications represent
the concrete results of research carried out by SIL field members and others. Some are preliminary work
papers and not polished research. They are based on field notes and are in some cases the work of young
researchers with minimal training. Language policy proposals included in technical documents do not
necessarily represent the position of SIL Senegal.
License
Ce document fait partie des Archives Langues & Cultures - SIL International.
Il est diffusé « tel quel » afin de rendre son contenu disponible sous une licence Creative Commons :
Attribution - Pas d’utilisation commerciale - Partage dans les meêmes conditions
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/deed.fr).
This document is part of the SIL International Language and Culture Archives.
It is shared ‘as is’ in order to make the content available under a Creative Commons license:
Attribution – NonCommercial - ShareAlike
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).
More resources are available at / Vous trouverez d’autres publications sur :
www.sil.org/resources/language-culture-archives et www.silsenegal.org
Glossary
of linguistic terminology used in
Aspects of Kuloonaay Expository Discourse by Sarah Gieske (2014)
The main purpose of the research presented in the discourse paper is to be a
resource for anyone working in translation in Kuloonaay or related languages. As a
linguistic paper, however, it uses some terminology which may be unfamiliar to those
who have not studied discourse analysis. This glossary lists in alphabetical order
those terms which are used at multiple points throughout the paper, some of which
are defined explicitly or implicitly and others of which are not. It does not include
the terminology introduced specifically for the purposes of presenting one particular
section or idea.
Terms which are presented in the paper are marked with SMALL CAPS; more broad
linguistic terminology is given in lower case. Where one definition cross-references
another, the term being referenced is written in italics. Section numbers point the
reader to where the term is introduced or first used, or to a section in which it has
particular relevance.
Term
active clause
AGENT
ORIENTATION
(AG)
ARGUMENTATION
or
ARGUMENTATIVE
EXPOSITION
ARTICULATION or
SENTENCE
ARTICULATION
clause
CONNECTIVE
CO-ORDINATION
CONTINGENT
TEMPORAL
SUCCESSION
(CTS)
COPULATIVE
CLAUSE
Definition
a clause conveying the occurrence of an event (opposite
of stative clause); usually found far from the THEME LINE of
EXPOSITORY texts
a text centred on a character or characters, potentially
including speaker or listener, is +AG; if it centres on the
subject matter it is -AG
texts or portions which intend intellectual persuasion
rather than a change in belief or action
Section
2.2
a means of presenting information within a sentence or
clause
2.1.2
the whole or part of a sentence which expresses a single
idea; it contains a subject and some information about
the subject
a word or phrase which joins together clauses or
sentences in RELATIONS of CO-ORDINATION or SUBORDINATION
a RELATION between PROPOSITIONS which are grammatically
independent of one another (contrast CO-ORDINATION)
a text is +CTS if its sentences and paragraphs depend on
previous sentences having already occurred in a
chronological time line; in –CTS texts, ‘sentences and
paragraphs … are logically linked’ (Fukuda).
a clause with ‘be’ or ‘have’ as the main verb
1.1
1.2.2
3.2
3.1
1.1
2.2
DEDUCTIVE
REASONING
default
DEPENDENT
DESCRIPTION
DESCRIPTIVE
EXPOSITION
or
DESCRIPTIVE
MATERIAL or
DESCRIPTIVE
SUPPORT
embedded text
EXPLANATION or
EXPLANATORY
EXPOSITION
EXPLANATORY
MATERIAL or
EXPLANATORY
SUPPORT
EXPOSITION or
EXPOSITORY
DISCOURSE
FOCUS
HEAD
INCLUSIO
INDUCTIVE
REASONING
juxtaposition
logical
connective
LOGICAL
RELATION
mainline
MARKED (FORM)
MENTAL
REPRESENTATION
a reasoning style which presents a statement and follows
it up with evidence (opposite of INDUCTIVE)
the usual form of presentation or order of elements in a
clause, sentence or RELATION
the naturally less prominent PROPOSITION(s) in a RELATED
pair or group (opposite of HEAD)
texts or portions which present facts, through a
combination of statements and ‘elaboration’ (Loos) details about the nature or state of a situation or entity
supportive material which either ‘lists the characteristics
of something’ (Loos) or expands on a statement by
providing ‘orientation (time, place, theme) or clarification
of the main [PROPOSITION]’ (Wiesemann et al.)
a text (often of a different type) which is entirely
contained in, and presented as a portion of, another text
texts or portions which evaluate or validate the facts by
clarifying the relationships between them and by
supplying details about the meaning or significance of a
situation or entity
supportive material which contains ‘explanations for
expository theses and reasons for accepting their
validity’ (Levinsohn)
2.3.2
‘discourse that explains or describes a topic’ (Loos) ;
discourse which does not use agent orientation or
contingent temporal succession (i.e. -AG, -CTS)
the part (word, a phrase, or the whole sentence) of a
sentence which contributes new information to the text
the ‘naturally more prominent’ (Callow) PROPOSITION in a
RELATED pair or group (opposite of DEPENDENT)
a device whereby the teacher begins and ends the body
of the text with essentially the same statement; it can be
used for a whole text, for a single paragraph, or as a
PROGRESSION PATTERN between a series of paragraphs
a reasoning style which starts with the facts and comes
to a conclusion (opposite of DEDUCTIVE)
placing two or more clauses or sentences side by side in
a text without any CONNECTIVE
a CONNECTIVE indicating which PROPOSITION in a pair is the
cause and which is the effect
a RELATION which shows cause and effect, often using a
logical connective
the portion of a text which contains the main points: in
narrative this is the events on the story line; in
exposition it is the facts on the THEME LINE
a non-default order of elements in a clause or way of
presenting a RELATION
concepts, words and expressions which are related to
the subject matter at hand, within the context shared by
1.2.1
1.2.2
3.1
1.2.1
2.4.1
1.4.2
2.4.3
1.2.1
2.4.2
2.1.2
3.1
2.3.2
4.2.1
4.2.2
2.3.2
3.2
3.6.1.3
3.2
3.2
2.1.1
2.2
3.1
2.1.3.1
POINT OF
DEPARTURE
preposed
PROGRESSION
PATTERN
PROPOSITION
(THE) QUESTION
RELATION
(RELATED)
static clause
SUBORDINATION
support or
supportive
material
TEXT TYPE or
text genre or
genre
THEME LINE
VERBO-NOMINALS
VO LANGUAGE
the teacher and the learner
(also called ‘known information’)
an element at the beginning of a clause or sentence which
(i) establishes a starting point for the communication;
and (ii) ‘anchors the subsequent clause(s) to something
which is already in the context (i.e. … in the hearer’s
MENTAL REPRESENTATION).’ (Levinsohn)
(an element of a clause) brought to an earlier point in the
clause
a deliberate pattern in the way a speaker or writer
moves from one sentence to another, or from one
paragraph to another
an idea or meaning expressed in a clause, either implied
or stated explicitly
the explicit or implicit question which is answered by an
expository text, and in particular by its THEME LINE
a series of two or more PROPOSITIONS which share some
information and are structurally connected (by
SUBORDINATION or CO-ORDINATION)
a clause conveying a state of events (opposite of active
clause); frequently found on the THEME LINE of EXPOSITORY
texts
a RELATION between PROPOSITIONS in which one proposition
is dependent on the other: the dependent proposition
behaves as part of the main proposition (contrast COORDINATION)
any sentence, clause or piece of information which is not
on the mainline (expository THEME LINE)
(also called ‘background information/material’)
‘an idealized norm … a matrix of rules and elements’
(Werlich) by which a communicator is constrained in a
given linguistic situation; text types can be defined by
AGENT ORIENTATION and CONTINGENT TEMPORAL SUCCESSION
the set of clauses which provide the fundamental
elements of the answer to the text’s QUESTION
(NB: some linguists use ‘theme line’ where I use mainline)
root words which can become either verbs or nouns
(defined as a category in Kuloonaay by Sambou)
a language in which the default sentence order has the
object after the verb (the opposite is an OV language, in
which the object comes before the verb)
French equivalents / équivalents en français
English
active clause
agent orientation
argumentative, argumentation
articulation (sentence articulation)
Français
clause active
orientation vers l'agent
discours argumentatif; argumentation
articulation
4.1
2.1.2
4.2.1
2.1.3.2
3.1
1.3.2
2.1.1
3.1
2.2
3.1
2.1.1
2.2
1.1
2.1.1
2.2.5
2.4
3.1
clause
connective
co-ordination
contingent temporal succession
copulative clause
deductive reasoning
default
dependent (proposition)
description, descriptive exposition
descriptive material
embedded text
explanation, explanatory exposition
explanatory material
explicit
exposition
focus
head
inclusio (Latin)
inductive reasoning
juxtaposition
logical connective
mainline
marked
mental representation
point of departure (PoD)
preposed
progression pattern
proposition
Question
relation, related
static clause
subordination
support (supportive material)
text type
theme line
verbo-nominal
VO language
clause, proposition
connecteur
coordination
enchaînement chronologique
copulatif (énoncé d'existence)
déduction
(valeur) par défaut
(énoncé, proposition) dépendant, régi
description, discours descriptif
matériel descriptif
texte/discours enchâssé
explication, exposition explicative
materiel explicatif
explicite
exposition
focus, posé (rhème)
tête, régissant
inclusio (Latin)
induction
juxtaposition
connecteur logique
ligne du thème*
marqué
représentation mentale
point de départ (PdD)
antéposé
schème de progression
proposition
Question
(en) relation
proposition d'état
subordination
soutien
genre de discours
ligne du thème
verbo-nominal
langue VO
Sources:
Loos, E. E. (gen. ed.) (2004) ‘Glossary of Linguistic Terms’ from the LinguaLinks
Library, Version 5.0 (SIL 2003): SIL International. Available at:
www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/
SIL (2010) French/English Glossary of Linguistic Terms. Available at:
www-01.sil.org/linguistics/glossary_fe/glossary.asp
Wiesemann, U., Nseme, C. and Vallette, R. (1984) Manuel d’Analyse du Discours,
Yaoundé, Cameroon: Département des Langues Africaines et Linguistique,
F.L.S.H, Université de Yaoundé